Sunday, August 26, 2007

"All good things come in small packets"The above saying seemed to be absolutely true with respect to my first case competition.I thought that all my team needed to do was comphrehend half a page,garner knowledge about the topic and then present it.But soon after, the realization dawned and i knew that this competition would be asking for much more commitment than I could ever expect.Commitment to analyze,commitment to work and most importantly commitment to maintain the decorum of a team.You gain so much of global exposure when you work with people from different cultures.It is absolute fun but it also teaches you so many lessons.I have learnt so much about team dynamics that probably 2 years at TCS did not teach me. Today, I learnt my first lesson that flexibility is the key to survive in a team. We toiled for quite some time and then made a presentation. Off late i have improved on my culinary skills and I categorize anything edible as food with right flavour or food with too much odour or food which is bland.And all i can say about our presentation was that it lacked flavour.Bland would sound too deprecatory. And it could not be relished even after adding the right amounts of salts and spices.The presentation was followed by the question answer round.The presentation seemed to be a cakewalk in comparison to the Q&A round.The answers required a clarity of concept and thorough undertsanding of the topic and even the smartest people would have a tough time answering them. I knew all the way I wasnt at my best. But then like always being your best is not quintessential.Learning is what I was here for. Learning is what I yearned for. May be people around me won it but I learned a lot from this experience.Learning that would help be a winner tommorrow.And like i said earlier "All good things come in small packets",let me keep this blog small as well.

Friday, July 13, 2007

My tryst with the corporate industry began when I stepped into one of India’s topnotch IT firms. My happiness knew no bounds despite the fact that I was signing a bond to serve the company for a specific period of time. But within a month I realized what a grave mistake I had committed. A friend of mine once told me that” when you enter an IT firm you are like the horse that is eager to grasp and within a few months you get converted to a donkey. And then you are so comfortable being a donkey that you don’t want to be a horse again.” From that day I decided I would see to it that I am never transformed into a donkey. But I was pretty doubtful, whether I could be classified as a horse. Jokes apart, that sole aim kept me going and I did pretty well for myself. Certifications to taking trainings to becoming a module lead and then to finally becoming a project lead. But the way was not easy. In a company strewn with politics it gets tough to carve a niche for yourself. There are times when you think your effort is not recognized. Most people have a complain with appraisals and like most of them, so do I. But more than leniency bias or halo effect the most important thing that never gets mentioned in performance review training is that the manager often happens to look at the qualities which characterize him. If he some years before had been a technical guy who would die or may be kill for his project he would but of course rate a guy similar to him much higher. So your appraisals depend a lot on the similarities you share with your seniors. And in this process even the creditworthy people don’t get recognized and off course sycophancy, nepotism, favoritism do come into picture. But trust me these factors spur you to go ahead and plan your future and they are probably a blessing in disguise and a curse monetarily. And thankfully I faced the same issues and decided to do my masters. Today was my last day and I can rightfully say "I am free of bonded labor". Anyways I guess I like writing about the corporate world and keep pinging this blog for new updates..........